2 posts tagged “mexico”

This morning Patricia's blog reminded me of an incident this past summer. We were discussing how we think our husbands are kind of dorky. (In a good way) and that we laugh at their jokes but everyone else kind of rolls their eyes.Somehow it came to Drinking and Dorkiness and Cameras...So I promised to post my tale of the three!

While we were in Mexico I kept watching women get massages...There was a hut out on a jetty that they would go to and have a massage while they listened to the ocean all around them. It sounded like heaven but I didn't finally give in and decide that I would get one until the very last day.

I'd been watching and I had noticed that it was always females that gave the massages. I'm a little bit wierd about people touching me so this was a step outta the box for me. It took me YEARS to get used to people touching my feet for a pedicure. I still don't like it much! haha

So I go to sign up and they tell me a time to come back for my massage. During the time I was waiting I decided to go out on a Hobby Cat so I was soaked when I got back and decided I'd do the Massusse  a favor and change into some capris and a tank top before my massage...Instead of a wet swimming suit. I also asked my husband if he would take some photos while I got my massage because it was such a pretty setting. He agreed. Now I have to stop here and explain that by this time of the day he has been drinking from the all inclusive bar pretty heavily. So he was walking around in his trunks with no shirt...Ordinarily this wouldn't have been an issue but as this story continues it will help create a picture in your mind! LOL I also have to add that he is as cute as can be ..but he is shaped like a pear...skinny arms and legs and big midsection. Okay..now hang onto that picture! ;-)

Okay back to my massage...I get all cleaned up and I go to meet my Massusse. There were two women there at the time and I gave my name..."Oh Sure" they said and then "DANIEL your client is here"....WTF!!? Who is Daniel! I look around and coming around the corner is a very handsome young BOY!! LOL...He couldn't have been more than 22 years old. "Buck up Laurie" I told myself!  "It will be alright...this is a good chance for you to dsomething outside your comfort zone"...So I followed Daniel to the little hut. Now remember...I've changed clothes...Bra...tank top...Capri pants ...He wants it off...The bra...the tank top and he wants the waist band of the capris rolled down to the butt. I don't know what I THOUGHT but I guess I thought if he needed me to do that he'd have told me and then given me some privacy and a robe. Ummmm not gonna happen. He stood there and waited while I tried to shimmy my way out of my bra..(Remember flashdance??) And then he held out his hand and took my heavily padded bra from me!! UGH!!! He was very professional he didn't even crack a smile...He knew better...I'd have grounded him!  So finally the massage starts....Believe it or not I totally got over my inhibitions and by the end of the massage I iwas totally relaxed and glad I'd done it.  I was a little miffed though because I hadn't heard my husband come by...I TOLD him to take photos!  Daniel and I talked for a few minutes (As I fumble to put my bra back on without himseeing anything....No luck there! It's easier to do the flash dance thing when it's coming off!) Finally I say..."Did my husband come by here and take some photos??" Daniel gives me a look....I can't really describe it ...but it was kind of a look of shock and then a frantic look of "let me compose myself"..."Your husband??" he stuttered.."Yeah he was supposed to come by and take some photos?"   "Ohhh yes he came by! That was your husband?? "  "Uh huh"...(still trying to get dressed)  He didn't say anymore ...so I walked back down the jetty to catch up to my husband...As I was walking I noticed security standing a few feet from the beginning of the jetty...He was talking intohis walkie talkie and looking at me...I thought it was odd...but walked passed. Next I see him really watching where I was headed...It started to make sense to me. "Robert..Did Daniel make any motion or do anything odd when you were taking my photo"...(Slurring his words with a Southern accent) Yeahhhh...He waved his arm arouuund like he was tryn' to get someone's atteeenntion...but I just thought he was tryn' to say sumthin to the other women that give them massages" I said "Baby...what else have you been doing??" "Nothin...I was just takin' pictures of you and of Priya while you was out there!" (Priya is my beautiful 13 year old daughter!)

Okay so NOW let's put it all together and create the picture for you....Pear shaped drunk man from Texas...Walking along the beach with my very nice camera. He takes pictures of the topless woman getting a massage and then begins stalking the young brown teenager sunbathing.....

Security was for HIM!! LMAO...Thank GOD that once the officer saw me talking to BOTH he and my daughter...he left!

Robert and I got a big laugh out of how it must have looked....and poor Daniel didn't say a word! He just took care of business and tried to protect me from the peeping perv! hahaha

Well I'm home...It's funny how you feel like you need a vacation AFTER the vacation! :-) I've spent the last two days trying to recouperate from eight days of doing nothing!

We arrived in Mexico and we were picked up by a van to take us to our resort...The resort was about 20 min away and the first thing that struck me was the poverty. I had heard how certain areas were impoverished but nothing prepared me for what I saw...People living in nothing more than what looked like a carport...Families all living in one room with a clothes line out front and no visible running water or electricity. Broken down cars on the highway..People walking or hitchhiking...My first impression was not good. I felt depressed. I felt depressed because here I was...most likely to them (not in reality) a "Rich American". Not only that but I was going to a fancy resort and who would be waiting on me hand and foot for tips??? Yup! You guessed it...these same faces that I saw passing by in my air conditioned van. How completely arrogant of me. This whole feeling kind of sucked the joy out of my first minutes in Mexico. I hate to admit this but I fully expected some kind of revenge from the  people. I expected to be treated rudely...have items stolen from my room..poor service..ect. I mean that is how I would want to behave in a similar situation..However what I found was completely the opposite.

I found the people to be more than gracious...absolutely lovely. The more I explored their streets and their culture the more I noticed and appreciated their emmense pride. Yes many lived in homes that I would politely refer to as a shack..but when I looked inside..they were usually spotless. The children out front and playing in the streets were immaculately dressed. I remember seeing three little girls..Each of them was dressed in a crisp pink dress with matching bows in their hair. They were running and playing in the street.As we drove by...they ducked through a gate to thier home. A home that I could look through the front and right on through to the back. There were no doors..no grass..no swing set.No television or Xbox....just a cement building..Yet these girls were clean and neat and seemingly oblivious to anything but having fun!

I met several taxi drivers as well and they were always so much fun! Suprisingly they usually spoke fair to good English. I asked one young man where he learned to speak English and he replied that he learned it driving a taxi! He laughed and said that he "Learned the bad words first!"...Don't we all!

Another Cab driver was ecspecially sweet. As soon as I climbed in he began chatting with me about how he would be coming to the US in 2010. I asked him what was bringing him to the U.S and he said " I'm a friend of Bill's"...Well I only knew this because my Dad was an alcoholic and I was married to an alcoholic but  "I'm a friend of Bill's" is kind of a code for "I belong to Alcoholics Annonomys".  "Bill" being Bill Wilson the founder of A.A. My new friend was coming to the states to attend the International Conference for A.A. :-) We spoke about this for most of our trip. He told me that he had been sober for eight years. He was married and had a beautiful little girl named Evanna because HIS name was "Evan" He shared his love for Elvis Presley. He even did an Elvis impersonation for me! (He was pretty good!)  At the end of the trip we exchanged addresses and I am sure he'll be in touch!

The one thing that I took notice of and that bothered me VERY much was how rudely these people were treated by other cultures..ecspecially other Spanish speaking cultures. One family we shared a van with was from Brazil...I couldn't understand the conversations but the body language and the inflections in their voices told me they had great distaste for the people they were dealing with. They were late coming back to the van after the excursion and our driver spent thirty minutes searching for them in a crowded park. When they showed up with him they didn't apologize to him or to those of us waiting..they climbed in and ordered the driver to go....AND they didn't tip him. What is up with that?? This seemed to be common ..and I can 't figure out why!?!? On a regular basis I saw other  Latin Americans treating these people like dogs...

So that is a bit (a large bit) about my vacation..Yes I sunbathed...Yes I snorkeld and shopped for silver jewlery...but what will always remain in my heart is the pride and beauty of the people in Playa Del Carmen and Peurto Moreles Mexico!

Laurie